Birmingham bin strike: City becoming 'sea of rubbish'

Demonstrators demanded action as they took their protest to the city's Council House

About 50 people staged a demonstration outside Birmingham City Council's headquarters to highlight concerns over the city's bin dispute.

The group, some holding posters calling for action, gathered to protest at the lack of progress in bringing the strike by bin collectors to a close.

Refuse workers have been taking action in a dispute over job losses.

One councillor said the city is in danger of becoming a "sea of rubbish" if the problem is not resolved.

The authority has said it is working to tackle the backlog.

Why are refuse workers striking in Birmingham?

See more stories from across Birmingham and the Black Country here

Councillor Paul Tilsley was among those at the Council House in Victoria Square on Thursday.

'Urgent situation'

The Liberal Democrat, who represents the Sheldon ward, said: "I don't see any action at all from the Labour leadership.

"It's an urgent situation because if we don't get a resolution this is going to go on until September. Birmingham will sink in a sea of rubbish while we are trying to negotiate for the Commonwealth Games."

The dispute centres on restructuring plans that trade union Unite says are threatening the jobs of more than 120 refuse collectors, while the council says plans will modernise the service and save £5m a year.

Bin workers have been suspending collections for three hours a day, leading to a backlog of uncollected rubbish.

Earlier this week volunteers took to the streets to clear waste in the Yardley area.

Trade union Unite has said walkouts will continue until September after talks with the authority failed.

The city council said it hoped to reach a resolution "sooner rather than later".